Last month our chief executive David wrote to our community urging support for Israelis trying to save lives in Gaza and to build a safer shared future.

More recently, the New Israel Fund has launched an effort to raise urgent funds to provide humanitarian aid through World Central Kitchen (WCK) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC).

These are world-renowned organisations working to feed people in desperate need.

They need our support.

Our colleagues in Israel, team members and lay leaders, Jewish and Palestinian citizens, have initiated this appeal to offer Israelis – and supporters of Israel around the world – a way to respond to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

We were in touch with the World Central Kitchen before the horrendous incident that took the lives of their heroic aid workers. With Israel opening the Erez Crossing and the Ashdod Port for aid delivery, the situation has changed. The scale of the need continues to increase, and so does the possibility to do something to help people in Gaza.

Now the situation has taken a terrifying turn for the worse, and people in Rafah and all across Gaza urgently need our support and the support of aid agencies.

Just as we worked to alleviate the suffering of Israeli civilians in Israel after October 7 – and continue to do so, we cannot ignore the desperation and suffering of civilians in Gaza today.

There should not be anything political or controversial about feeding the hungry. 

We hope many of our supporters and the broader community will join our Israeli friends and colleagues – Jewish and Palestinian citizens – in this effort to save precious lives.

Please note that all funds raised from this appeal will contribute to the global NIF campaign to assist World Central Kitchen and the International Rescue Committee with the aid efforts for the people in Gaza.